BIOL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Metabolic Pathway, Kinetic Energy, Thermodynamics
Document Summary
Metabolism: sum of all chemical reactions of an organism--maintains homeostasis and is an emergent property of life. A metabolic pathway begins with a specific molecule and ends with a product. Each step is catalyzed by a specific enzyme. A (starting molecule) reaction 1 (enzyme 1) reaction 2 (enzyme: reaction 3 (enzyme 3) reaction 4 (enzyme 4) Breaking down complex molecules to simpler ones. Potential = stored energy has not yet been used. Heat (thermal energy) random movement of atoms or molecules. First law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed only converted from one form to another. Second law of thermodynamics: every energy transfer or transformation increases entropy. Light e enters an ecosystem and heat e exits. Total e in universe is constant but total e available to do work in decreasing over time, turning into entropy. There is a finite amount of energy in the world.
